The proposed project addresses the question of the influence of feeling states on creative problem solving. Specifically, it seeks to extend 2 pilot studies, which hold 1) that positive affect, as induced by viewing a 7-minute segment of a comedy film, improved performance on Duncker's (1945) candle task, a task that is usually considered to require a creative solution; and 2) that positive affect, as induced by receipt of refreshments, was associated with more unusual word associations to a randomly-selected list of words, a task that is related conceptually to established theories of creativity and to developing work on the relationship between affect and cognitive processes. In the proposed project, positive affect will be induced in divergent ways in order to maximize the generalizability of the findings. We wish to use additional techniques of positive affect induction, in order to be able to speak about the influence of positive affect more generally. At the same time, if these different inductions have differing effects, the use of multiple methods of affect induction will allow us to begin to differentiate the influence of differently-induced affective states. The influence of comparable (mild) negative affective states and of affectless "arousal" will also be investigated, for comparison. In the word-association study, in addition, responses to positive, negative, and neutral words will be investigated specifically, whereas in the pilot word-association study, the list of words was drawn randomly. In a third study the impact of affect and incidental priming on scores on the Remote Association Test will be examined. The framework in which the proposed research is cast relates creative problem solving, and affect, to cognitive organization and function more generally. Thus, its potential application is broad. Improved understanding of the influence of affect, including positive affect, on thought processes can contribute importantly to our understanding of mental health generally and of specific mental illnesses in which cognitive changes have been described. In addition, this research might be specifically relevant to the affective disorders of depression and mania, in which both affective and cognitive changes have been observed. Furthermore, understanding of the processes underlying and contributing to problem solving, and innovative approaches to problems in particular, is centrally relevant to mental health.